New Guidelines For High School Sports Amid COVID-19 Released

CHAMPAIGN – On Friday, the Illinois High School Association released guidelines for allowing student athletes to practice and play. It comes as the Illinois Department of Public Health announced the number of confirmed coronavirus cases grew to 145,750 including 7,005 deaths.

Here are a few of the Phase 4 Return To Play Guidelines:

  • Schools must maintain of a daily record and take the temperatures of athletes before every practice.
  • Any person with COVID-19 symptoms or a positive COVID-19 test should not practice or play. They can only return after clearance to do so from a physician.
  • Gatherings of 50 people are allowed indoors and outdoors but they must be kept at a distance.
  • Locker rooms must maintain a capacity to keep people 6 feet away from each other.
  • Appropriate clothing/shoes should be worn to minimize sweat from transmitting onto equipment/surfaces in the weight room.
  • Students are encouraged to shower and wash their workout clothing immediately upon returning to home.
  • Schools must wipe down and sanitize hard surfaces used by athletes, including chairs, furniture in meeting rooms, locker rooms, weight room equipment, bathrooms, athletic training room tables, etc. before the athletes arrive to use those facilities.
  • Students should not share water bottles.
  • No spitting or blowing of the nose allowed without a tissue.
  • No handshakes, high fives, fist bumps, hugs, etc. can happen before or after a game.
  • Coaches and volunteers must wear masks.
  • Schools should cap seating at games at 20% of capacity. Families should allow 6 feet of distance between each other.

Click here to read the complete guidelines from IHSA and IDPH.

 

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director at Illinois Public Media. He oversees daily newscasts and online stories. He also manages The 21st Show, a live, weekday talk show that airs on 7 NPR stations throughout Illinois. He is the executive producer of IPM's annual environmental TV special "State of Change." And he is the co-creator of Illinois Soul, IPM's Black-focused audio service that launched in February 2024. Before arriving at IPM in 2019, he served as News Director at WKAR in East Lansing and spent 17 years as a TV news producer and manager at KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth. Reginald is the recipient of three Edward R. Murrow regional awards, seven regional Emmy awards, and multiple honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Born in Vietnam, Reginald grew up in Colorado and is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsWILL